By Mitch Kelly (mitch.kelly@tesco.net) and Al Stuart (ian@ialas.demon.co.uk)
Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Wraith and Changeling, their associated logos and terms are Trademarks of WWGS. No infringement of any Copyright or Trademark is intended.
Ten thousand years ago the Garou hunted humans, placed quotas on villages, killing one human for each one that was born. The Garou had many names for it. They called it responsibility, called it protection for Gaia, called it their right. The Garou were neither the first nor last to gild the name of murderer.
And humanity cried out under their yoke. Humans gained an inherited terror of the Garou, so that they became a memory of death and horror, and in these last days, when the Garou need the help and understanding of humanity in their last fight, the Garou fight alone.
Few defended the humans. The Kindred, in some cases, drove back the Garou, either out of hatred of these enemies of theirs or out of a wish to defend 'their' humans, whom they valued as a man values horses or cattle. A few defended humans from altruistic feelings, but they were few indeed. The Mages, especially those who later became the Dreamspeakers, Celestial Chorus and Verbena, defended humans. Those villages containing a true Mage were avoided by the Garou, who hate Mages even to this day, for challenging their 'right' to slaughter and kill. And yet the Mages often demanded a high price in return for their protection. The Restless? Their wrath is terrible, yet who among humans is at ease with the souls of the dead around them? Their protection is a dear thing indeed. The Fae defended those who they regarded as their own: a Gift for a Gift, in obedience of Faerie law. But they too called for a gift in return for their protection, and these gifts often made the protection of the Fae dearly bought.
Yet did not mankind defend themselves? How could they, say the Awakened. They had not the power or the knowledge. But they did. Some few did defend their people from the teeth and claws of the Garou.
They had stood against the Garou. Their desperate courage and willpower let them stand against the power of raw nature. Most of them died. Most, but not all. Those that lived passed on their resistance to the terror of the Crinos form to their children, and their fight with it.
The humans watched, experimented and learned. They observed; they struggled, and they performed favours best forgotten for creatures best not mentioned in return for knowledge. They learned how to harness fire against the Garou. They learned how to distill poisons from certain plants that would affect them, killing them or shearing them of their powers. They learned how to make clubs, spears and arrow heads from certain rocks, that would injure the Garou when flint blades, sharper than steel, rebounded from their hides. They learned to kill.
With this killing came respect, admiration, and a little fear. The other people of their villages elevated those who could kill the Garou. They did not need to toil in the fields, for their work was done at night. They did not need to hunt, for their hunting was to the benefit of all. They did not need to build, for their actions built a safer world for all. Those who hunted the Garou gained pride. They hunted not merely the Garou, but the Vampire, who stalked in the night, taking tolls in blood and freedom. They hunted the Mages who gave their aid, but at a price beyond measure. The hunted the Restless, to grant their own people rest. They hunted the Fae, not wanting their gifts.
Over time they came to rule much of what is now Europe, those families. With each succeeding invasion, they absorbed the invaders' cultures, took their names, maintained their blood, and ruled on. But each time, their reach was shortened, their territory reduced, until only the British Isles remained. Here, they could not retreat, and here they have survived.
They call themselves The Highest Society. They still exist. They still defend the Sleepers for the terror and enslavement of the Awakened. They continue the Long War...
The greatest weapon came last of all. The Society themselves do not recall exactly who they were contacted by, but this individual showed them how to make arrowpoints from certain bright and shiny stones, and how to use related stones to make clubs that would smash a Garou skull. They discovered silver. They also learned how to leach the silver from the rocks to make poisonous liquids. The Highest Society took the fight back to the Garou, killing all they could find. At the same time, this mysterious benefactor gave each of the families of the Highest Society a special power, and persuaded them that they were indeed superior and destined to rule humanity. The Garou, characteristically, took to the fight with glee.
Of course this degenerated into a war. Indeed, in the parlance of the Highest Society, it has become known as the Long War. The War that will not end until the Awakened are exterminated and humanity acknowledges its true position, as servants and chattels of the Highest Society. Finally, with the end of the Impergium, the Garou stopped their general killing. The war with the Highest Society continued and has never ended. When the Garou began to spread across the Eurasian landmass, the Society went with them. In fact, the Highest Society travelled north into central Asia, where they came among the proto-Celtic and Gothic tribes, who later swept across Europe in great waves over the millennia. Ironically, the Highest Society began to make its great powerbase among the same peoples that furnished the culture and Kinfolk of such Garou tribes as the Fianna, Get of Fenris, Shadow Lords, even the Silver Fangs. This ongoing war contributed to the constant, ongoing factional strife among these peoples.
The Highest Society continued their war against the other Awakened groups during this time. With the help of their mysterious benefactor, the Society had learned how to fight and destroy all Awakened beings. They killed Vampire, Werewolf, Mage and Fae alike. The Wraiths they found easier to dissipate and ward against than to destroy, and the Mages they usually left alone. The Highest Society became the protectors and frequently the leaders of the people. In time, they became in effect kings. This situation continued until the rise of the great civilisations.
At this point the Kindred, with their powers of mass control, were able to assert themselves as they had not before, and the power of the Highest Society, that had been based, as had the Garou's, on individual heroes and champions, withered in the face of organised armies. The political power playing of the Awakened had started, and the Highest Society took a long time to adjust to it, and react. In fact, by the time they had, their powerbase, which had reached from the steppes of central Asia to Ireland, had been reduced to western Europe.
The Highest Society never really recovered. Much of their best blood was spent in petty wars between the emerging kingdoms of early medieval Europe, when the Society often found itself caught between different Awakened factions. Although the society never abandoned its principles, and never abandoned its Long War, it was slowly, slowly driven back.
Its own elitism conspired against it: as the Society became ever more concerned with the 'purity' of its own blood, fewer and fewer children were born, and gradually, at first slowly, then more rapidly, the many families of the Highest Society started to die out.
By the time the Society had noticed this and taken steps to counter this thinning of their ranks, their domain had shrunk to only the British Isles. They now knew what they must do. The Highest Society faded into the background. They did not abandon their mission, but merely decided to strike from the shadows, and to fight on in a secret, rather than overt, war. They also did not abandon their centrally held belief that they, and they alone, are the true rulers of humankind.
The families of the Highest Society in the British Isles were the most pragmatic and foresighted of the families, if not the most powerful. They married into each successive wave of invaders: first Romans, then Saxons, then Normans. They reinvented themselves during the Reformation and the Commonwealth, and again in the Age of Empire. Family names changed from Vertrex to Aurelius, to Wulfhaer to DeVere, to FitzStephen, depending on what they needed to do to survive.
The Highest Society is now a secretive organisation dedicating itself to the overthrow of the Awakened, and the freeing of the sleepers from the shackles of the Awakened's control. Implicit in this is the Highest Society's rule of the sleepers.
Abilities: 12/8/5
Willpower: 3
Backgrounds: 5. Allowed Backgrounds are: Allies, Arcane (2 Dots Maximum), Contacts, Destiny (2 Dots Maximum), Fame, Influence, Mentor, Resources, Secret Identity, Status.
Freebies: 21
Freebie Point Costs: Attributes: 4, Abilities 2, Willpower 2, Backgrounds 1 (except Arcane and Destiny, 3 points per dot).
Experience Costs: Attributes 4 times current rating, Abilities 2 times current rating, New Ability 3 points, Willpower current rating.
Merits and Flaws: All Physical, Mental, Social, Aptitude and Society Merits and Flaws from "Ascension's Right Hand" are permitted. Many of the Occult-based Merits and Flaws are recosted or forbidden.
Forbidden Merits and Flaws: Clear-Sighted, Ghoul, Kinfolk, Kinain.
Recosted Merits and Flaws: Vampire, Faerie or Werewolf Companion costs 7 points, Spirit Mentor, Iron Will or Blase costs 5 points. Haunted is a two-point Flaw.
Common Merits and flaws include: Hatreds, Intolerances, Haunted, Hunted, Primal Marks (physical stigmata are more pronounced), Occult Library.
Dear Departed: Extinct families of the Society. Slightly risque term used by younger members.
First Fifteen: Slightly joking title sometimes used by younger Society members to refer to the Highest Society. Derived from rugby team parlance.
Foxes: Rogue members of the Society.
Fox Hunting: The suppression and recovery of Rogue members.
Knitting Circle: Derogatory term for the Arcanum
Long War: The Society's endless battle with the Awakened.
Lower Orders: General human populace.
Plebes, peasants, oiks, serfs: See Lower Orders. Derogatory term used by younger members.
Side: A group of Highest Society members working together on a mission. Some sides are virtually permanent teams, other are ad-hoc groups formed to do a specific job.
The families have two classes of members: true blood members, who always manifest the talents and disadvantages that the family has, and 'grass-children.' The former are born of the union of two members of the extended families, either the same one, or one of the others. Over the millennia, as the families have become fewer in number; this has lead to problems with interbreeding and loss of genetic diversity. Thus, occasional 'grass marriages' are arranged, with non-family members, generally carefully selected normal people. The offspring of these are closely monitored, and if the family talent develops they are used as breeding vessels. If the talents do not develop, these children become the close servants and aides of the families.
Weaknesses: The MacDonalds are manic-depressives. At any particularly stressful time, the Storyteller should call for a Willpower roll, difficulty 6, to avoid swapping between the two states. In manic mode, a MacDonald will pursue his goals to the exclusion of anything else: to stop an attack, or change the direction of an investigation, requires a willpower roll, diff 7. In the depressive phase, a MacDonald must make a willpower roll, diff 7 to be bothered to do anything, except to save his own life.
Every MacDonald has eyes of startlingly different colour, like palest blue and darkest brown, or green and violet. This is noticeable on a roll of Per+Alertness, diff 6.
Weaknesses: Each of the FitzStephens has multiple personalities. These should be developed at character creation. Each will have a different nature, demeanour, willpower etc., but the attributes, abilities and backgrounds are fairly common to all the personalities. In a stressful situation, another personality may come to the fore (if a Willpower roll, Diff 6 is not made). The once dormant personality will have no idea what is going on around it, and is at -2 for several minutes until it can assimilate the events around it.
The FitzStephens suffer a minor physical stigmata: all members of the family are painfully thin, as if they are malnourished.
Weaknesses: Cannot spend more than 2 dots on physical attributes during character creation, and can never raise any physical attribute above 2 with experience. Also, all of the Ansons suffer from short tempers and lack of patience (in game terms, they have the Flaw "Intolerance" at least twice).
Weaknesses: The Trelawnys are frightening. All possess the Flaw Eerie Presence. Their physical appearance, with hair growing down their foreheads, thick arms and deep set eyes make them easily recognisable, if one knows what to look for. A Trelawny cannot have an Appearance or Charisma higher than 2.
| Emotion conflicts with target's Nature | +2 |
| Emotion is contrary to target's current feelings | +1 |
| Emotion is in harmony with target's current feelings | -1 |
| Target is relaxed/focused | +1 |
| Target is confused | -1 |
Weaknesses: The Warwicks suffer from acute paranoia regarding what the rest of the Highest Society, and particularly the rest of the Warwicks, are planning. This means that the Warwicks spend a great deal of their time worrying about internal threats rather than pursuing the Society's external goals. This is identical to the Elder Flaw, Acute Paranoia.
The Warwickss all have brilliant white hair, regardless of their age.
This dichotomy between the sexes is a reflection of the Highest Society's feudal ideals: the males are the leaders of the houses, the decision makers and the movers and shakers. The women, whilst respected, are very definitely second-class citizens. This still puts them vastly above the rest of the human race, whom the Highest Society see as destined to be their servants, thralls and serfs, gratefully tugging their forelocks in thanks for being saved from the Awakened in order to serve their true masters.
The MacDonalds: Countless centuries in possession of the powers they have altered the MacDonald's perspective. Many of their members are unwilling to believe they actually possess the powers they have. In a sense, they become overly rational, considering themselves to be "debunkers" of occult ideas, rather than warriors against the Awakened. Many members need considerable persuasion in their early years working for the Society to believe that Garou, Vampires and so forth are real, not simply the product of overactive imaginations or disturbed psyches. This does not make them any less dangerous, especially to Mages and Changelings who find the calcified reality around them extremely hazardous. When dealing with Vampires, many attribute the failure of Vampiric mind control to the Vampire rather than their own power. The MacDonald family controls large estates in Scotland, which are frequently used for the training of the society's combat troops.
The FitzStephens, who own vast tracts of Ulster, are the Society's prime weapon against the Fae. They are also considered to be borderline loose cannons. Their multiple personalities leave them open to sudden lapses in control and to leaving other Society members in grave danger. Further, they often end up in psychiatric hospitals as additional personalities manifest themselves.
There is some evidence that the Benefactor offered the FitzStephens a second gift: the ability to understand perfectly the mindsets of their enemies. Those few who undertook this became quite mad, totally unable to deal with what they had learned. Even eight generations on, the branch of the family that received this gift is considered odd still. There are rumours that a few of these have overcome their madness, and have evolved into a next stage of human development. These are said to be able to understand, instinctively, the motives, fears and aspirations of any sentient being. Rather than making these family members keener hunters of the Awakened, it has made them reconsider. Understanding the enemy has made them more willing to compromise. The family are thought to be hunting down these members, or "traitors." The FitzStephens are the family most likely to become rogues.
The Ansons act as the glue which binds the Society together. Many of the families, who are at loggerheads, are kept from open conflict by the actions of the Ansons.
In spite of their physical weakness, the Ansons are revered by the other families. They train hard, and become conversant in many armed and unarmed combat techniques, as if to assert that their physical limitations do not make them weak. The Ansons are odd even by the Society's standards. There are rumours that the family possesses at least a kind of collective consciousness, or is at most a huge "living computer." The result of this is that research is carried out on any subject from several places simultaneously, and on several levels of consciousness. The Ansons were the originators of the Society's now huge computer and information network, which they share primarily with the Trelawnys.
The Trelawnys have been warriors in wars all across the world for centuries, as it was the custom for the younger men to go off for a few years to fight in any war they could find to harden them up. They seem to know when to fight, and when to run. They are a highly disciplined group, the only family that holds regular meetings. The Trelawny family has a defined hierarchy and rank structure through which members progress.
The Trelawnys have suffered a number of internal feuds which have spilled out into the public view and been barely covered up by the Society as a whole. The Trelawnys of course provide the combat arm of the Society, as well as bodyguards. They are also the most active in co-opting suitable non-family members into the organisation.
Warwicks: The Warwicks are politicians as skilled as any Kindred. All they lack is time. They are natural empaths, able to perceive and project emotion. Their weakness is their division and suspicion. Their line is in jeopardy since they have a burning hatred for each other which produces few children. This has been exacerbated by their ongoing feud with the Kindred Prince of London, who has played a masterful game of misdirection. The Warwicks occupy numerous seats in the Houses of Parliament, but are so riven with internal splits that they do not use this power to its best advantage. The Warwick MPs are of several different political parties, and frequently allow party lines to come before the work of the Society. The other families are distancing themselves, and have only not severed their links completely for fear of losing the family and its powers entirely. It is rumoured that the Trelawnys wish to marry off the younger female members of the Warwicks, producing a related line that will be more compliant. The other families are resisting this, not wishing to see the Trelawnys gain ever more power.
The Warwicks long ago learned that their lifespans are a weakness in fighting the political intrigues of the Kindred. After all, to the Kindred, the "short term" is at best measured in decades, at worst meaningless. The Warwicks learned to swallow their pride and adopt an attitude best described as "not in my lifetime." They fully expect to succeed, just not in an individual's lifetime. They often pass on unfinished political tasks to their children, and from an early age learn to look out for "little victories": small chances to advance their cause. Each generation pursues the broad objectives of the last, but usually updates them to take account of the changes that have occurred. This actually gives the Warwicks a small edge over the Kindred, who tend to become set in their ways over time. This advantage is neatly cancelled by the fact that the Warwick mistrust is at its worst between fathers and sons.
The Highest Society has contacts with a number of British Supremacist / White Power political organisations. From these it can draw low-level support in the form of thugs, watchers or bodies on the streets.
The Highest Society has also made tentative links to the German Drorenkinder Vampire hunters. This has allowed the society to spread its influence onto the continent for the first time in several centuries.
The Society has virtually unlimited access to Parliament and Parliamentary papers. Their political ties also allow them space to train without interference, freedom from police interference, access to military technology and the ability to use the law and Parliament to keep information secret, or even to keep people incommunicado.
i) Women, who are sick of the restrictions placed upon them by the Society and wish to take a more active role. These members go Rogue to make better use of their powers, but are generally sympathetic to, and usually aligned with, the aims of the society in general.
ii) Those who reconsider their role in the Long War and either decide to have no further part in the Long War, or else change sides. The reasons for this change of heart are manifold, but environmental considerations, the realisation that not all Awakened are inimical to Sleepers, or simple conscience are all common. Most of these Rogues simply withdraw from the Society and strike out on their own. The FitzStephens are most likely to be in this category, followed by the MacDonalds.
iii) A few members of the Society, either for reasons listed in ii) above, or for others, sometimes not of their own choosing, change sides in the Long War, and actively fight with the Awakened and hunt their own former allies.
The Society hates Rogues, and goes to extraordinary lengths to recapture them. Those Rogues in categories i) and ii) are extensively "re-educated," then expected to serve faithfully in the future. Those who have served or aided the Awakened are killed horribly. Those who go Rogue again after re-education are treated similarly.
The Highest Society spends an inordinate amount of effort on the suppression of Rogues, in spite of their extreme rarity (fewer than three members of the Society go Rogue in an average year). The effort to recapture rogues takes precedence over everything and is one of the greatest hindrances to success in the Long War.
The other family that died out recently (in 1842) was the Richardsons. The Richardsons possessed Clear Sight and had been tireless Vampire hunters. The whole family was affected by profound obsessions, which did not make them the easiest people to get on with, and were all lame. There is some confusion over the demise of this family. The Richardsons were close to the FitzStephens, and it is rumoured that when the FitzStephens began to "evolve" and reconsider their part in the Long War against the Awakened, the Richardsons re-evaluated their own position. The rumour is that the Ansons and Trelawnys massacred the Richardsons to prevent them leaving the fold of the Highest Society. There are stories that some of the Richardsons were taken alive for a captive breeding programme, which failed, thus leaving the Society without the power of Clear Sight, and that some of the family survived, and now act as semi-Awakened mercenaries, aiding any Awakened faction who will pay them against their former allies, and serving as an escape line for rogue members of the Society who wish to leave the Long War forever.
In the past, one family died out in the Society roughly every three hundred years. This has accelerated in the past few centuries to one every hundred and fifty years, and now to roughly one every seventy or so years. The Society can see that without some profound change, they will be extinct within three hundred years.
The great exception to this is the situation in London. Richard Llywellyn, Prince of London is fully aware of the Highest Society, and has conducted a brilliant campaign to weaken the Warwick's control over Parliament. The Society knows he has done this, and even knows who Llywellyn is, but hesitate to act against him. The Society realises that Llywellyn is enormously powerful, even by Kindred standards, and that any mistake on their part whilst attacking him would result in Llywellyn destroying the Society. Llywellyn for his own part uses the Society: he has passed information on Kindred he does not care for to the Society, which has extinguished several such unfortunates, and Llywellyn is not above "toughening" his guards and footsoldiers by arranging for them to meet Society assault teams.
Garou: The Garou were the original reason for the Society's existence, and have been their bitterest foes. The same arguments regarding ruling humanity that were made above apply to the Garou and the Society. Much of the best blood on both sides has been spilt in this endless war. The Society has a better idea of how to defeat the Garou, and has (inadvertently) strengthened the Kindred by their policies of wilderness clearance, which have helped to all but break the Garou.
Mages: People who are able to alter reality to suit their own wants are deeply unpopular with the Society. Reality should be fixed, they say. Indeed, this firm belief in the calcified nature of reality makes the Society highly dangerous to Mages. Mages, for their part, are too preoccupied with the Ascension War to be bothered by the Society, and very few among them realise the danger that the Society poses. Most Mages who encounter them think they are some kind of Technomancer construct (if they are Tradition Mages) or some kind of anachronism serving the Order or the Chorus (if they are Technomancers). Only the Order and the Verbena have any real memory of the times when the Society hunted Mages with the blessing of Church and Noble alike, and few even among these Traditions believe it could happen again.
The Society spends most of its efforts against Mages on the Technomancy, seeing their love of learning as a threat to the "blessed ignorance" of the Sleepers, and also as a prime source of equipment in the Long War. The society has scored several significant victories over the Technomancy.
Wraiths: Most Wraiths have few dealings with the mortal world. The Highest Society like it that way, but would prefer it if Wraiths had no contact with mortal society. The Dead, they believe, should depart willingly to whatever rest, punishment or oblivion awaits them, and be satisfied. The Society has certain abilities and powers that it is more than willing to use on those who do not. On the other hand, there are some wraiths, those with great power and passion, who are willing to make a stand against the society, and fight back, spreading terror and havoc as they go.
Fae: The Society knows that the Fae are best avoided. This is one of the few pieces of genuinely good advice the Society peddles. The Fae, with their immutable law of "A-Gift-For-A-Gift," tend to be nothing but trouble to humans in general. The rectitude of the advice does not, however, make the attraction of the Fae any less, and often, the Fae will attract mortals in the service of the Society simply out of spite. Both sides are well aware of each other's weaknesses, but at the moment, both sides are too preoccupied to take a major offensive against one another.
Other Changers: The Society has little to do with these groups. The Lutran have managed to avoid them, and are mighty glad to have done so, but the Corax are more willing to get involved. The Corax know the Society has a huge database on the Awakened. The Corax, of course, believe that any such information is theirs by right, and are making plans to perform some sort of "sting" to get it. If they do, the wrath of the Society will be something to behold.
Immortals: Immortals are beyond the pale as far as the Highest Society is concerned. If God, or anyone else, had intended people to live forever, it would have been the Highest Society, not some group of honour-bound head choppers. The Highest Society only have a limited corpus of knowledge regarding Immortals, but have added them to their list of groups to be settled with "in the future."
The Guilds: The Society hates the Guilds. The Guilds feel much the same. However, both groups are more or less convinced the objects of their hatred died out long ago. The Guilds spent a great deal of time killing high-ranking members of the Society, and stealing from the Society. Indeed, a fair portion of the Guilds' libraries originally came from what they stole from the Society. The Society, being rigid and hierarchical, disapproves of anyone who steals or kills, except in their service, and as for those who kill members of the Society, they are totally beyond the pale. As it is, with the Guilds based in New Orleans, and the Highest Society barely holding onto its niche in the British Isles, there is little likelihood of the two groups becoming seriously involved any time soon. however, if the opportunity arises, both groups are likely to be able to find some resources to pursue an age-old dislike. In a Dark Ages Chronicle, this hatred and rivalry would of course be much stronger.
Gypsies: The Highest Society hate the Gypsies for no other reason that the fact that Gypsies are the antithesis of everything the Society is: free, unfettered, relaxed and totally out of control. Add to this the fact that Gypsies have powers that the Society envy, and it is little wonder that the Trelawnys go out of their way to break up Gypsy camps, and the Warwicks devote considerable political time to passing laws eroding the Romany way of life.
Demon Knights: The Society has a chequered history in connection with the Knights, not least because two keys fell into the Demons' possession due to the Society's misguided actions. The official line is that Demon Knights are as bad as any of the other groups and, if anything, slightly worse due to the fact that they are "traitors" to the Sleepers. Unofficially, many Society groups when they encounter Demon Knights help them "on the quiet." More than once Duffy has found Vessels around him being taken down by an unseen sniper. At the moment Duffy believes this is due to his inherent luck but sooner or later he will discover the truth and then the Society will have to bring its unofficial policy into line with their official policy.
Arcanum: If the Camarilla regard the Highest Society as "Quaint" the Society regards the Arcanum as laughable. The two groups are so similar that many believe that they were once linked, the Arcanum being the rumoured "Eighth Family." However, the veracity of this story is highly doubtful. In truth, the situation between the Society is akin to that between them and the Demon Knights. The Society holds the Arcanum in the utmost contempt due to their continuing inaction whilst the Arcanum view the Society as little more than football hooligans with latent magical abilities and firearms.
In reality, the Society both acquires and asks for information from the Arcanum whilst some of the more militant Arcanum groups have been known to ask the Society for the occasional 'favour.' Basically, their relationship is like that between Detective and Barrister, they can barely deal with being in the same room but realise that their relationship is occasionally beneficial.
Fox Hunted: The Side is declared Rogue, either by unfriendly elements within the Society, or else by an Awakened group, who have set the Side up.
Sleeping with the Enemy: A member of the Side falls in love with an awakened creature.
Questions of Doubt: The Side is sent to eliminate an Awakened being. This being is loved by many people around it, for a good reason. Perhaps it runs a children's home, or feeds the starving and destitute. The Side may find its convictions tested.
The families accepted, and so the Highest Society was born.
But what was the benefactor? There have been many suggestions, ranging from the collective unconsciousness of humanity, to a Vampiric ancient, to a conglomerate of angry ghosts. The truth is...stranger.
The story of the benefactor begins in the future. In a very different future, where the Garou have at last managed to prevent humanity and the agents of the Wyrm from corrupting and destroying Gaia. The Garou achieved this by enslaving all Humankind. Well, almost all.
Small enclaves survive, where Mages, Kindred and Fae, all hunted by the Garou, hide and hope. The Garou have built extermination camps, where humans are systematically destroyed in blood baths designed to toughen and "improve" young Garou. In other places, Theurges experiment on human kinfolk and other Awakened beings, searching for their limits, and trying to "Build the perfect beast."
The last straw in this future came on the night when a collection of powerful Theurges attempted to perform a particular ritual on a Totem spirit. They had tried this before, summoning a Totem spirit and binding it to the body and mind of a mighty Garou, so that the Garou did not merely gain the totem's gifts, but its powers. They had done so with Fenris, with Uktena, and latest with Grandfather Thunder. This time, the Theurges wished to try something new: the Garou had over time become estranged from many Totem spirits. Those Totems had fallen from favour, become ignored, or simply dwindled. The Garou wished to awaken one of these Totems, hoping that it would be more compliant. They chose the Totem of Justice known only as Balance.
The ceremony went well, and Screams-his-Rage, the Ahroun designated as the vessel seemed to survive, and then awaken. Suddenly, Screams-his-Rage changed. His features altered, and his voice became like the breath of winter. The Theurges sat around fascinated: had they succeeded in this case?
They had not. The Totem spoke:
"I see what the Garou will become. In their lust for power they will abandon justice, truth and honour. You will pay. There will be justice." Only one Theurge survived the resulting blast and she lived only long enough to report the words that Balance had spoken.
Balance went back through time, to the time of the Impergium, when the Garou were first gaining their arrogance over humanity. Balance gifted the families of the Highest Society. And so it began...
Balance is a Totem of Justice. It, for it is sexless, can no longer be bought by Garou packs, but it is still amenable to dealing with Lutran and Gurahl.
Balance cares only for justice: it is unconcerned with philosophy, repentance or mercy. It deals only in vengeance, equilibrium and retribution. It is entirely possible that dealing with the timestream as it has unbalanced its mind, but it now hunts those who oppress. Although Balance acted through the Highest Society, currently it does not, as the Society's plan for dominating the rest of Humanity is not compatible with Balance's view.
Balance has supported groups (generally unawakened) against the dominance of the Awakened for millennia. It has also helped Awakened groups to strive against their oppressors.
Provided the cause is strong enough, and the threat to Justice great enough, Balance may appear to help.
May.
You have been warned...